I Love You, Now and Forever
by Grool
Summary: Love is giving someone the power to break your heart, but trusting them not to. Fuji lived in the dark after breaking up with Ryoma. Fuji didn't want the break up but he needed to do it. Ryoma was left hurt.
1. Enduring the Pain

I Love You, Now and Forever

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Prince of Tennis! But I wish I do: D

**FULL SUMMARY:** Love is giving someone the power to break your heart, but trusting them not to. Fuji lived in the dark after breaking up with Ryoma. Fuji didn't want the break up but he thought he needed to do it. Ryoma was left hurt. After five years they meet again. Will there be a second chance?

**WARNING! **This is a yaoi fanfic which means that it contains male-male relationship, and may also contain some **kissing**, and **SEX**. If you are not comfortable with it, please do not read. This is dedicated to those **yaoi fans** like **me**. Enjoy!

**I Love You, Now and Forever Re-Uploaded**

_By IDaddicted_

**CHAPTER ONE**

Fuji never gets tired of looking at the picture in his hands. In the picture were he and a boy who has golden eyes and was wearing Seigaku's shirt, short and a cap in his head. The picture was taken in front of Kawamura Sushi Restaurant. Of course, he has some pictures taken with his other teammates too, but this one in his hand is the most treasured one. It's because of the young golden-eyed boy beside Fuji in the picture that makes it so special to him. The picture just brings back so many memories to him. It brings back happy memories he shared with the younger boy… And painful ones too.

"_Do you promise to love me forever Syusuke?" a young golden eyed prodigy asked to Fuji._

"_I do Ryoma. I do promise to love you, now and forever." He truthfully answered back._

_With that, the golden eyes of the younger boy shined brightly and looked at him lovingly._

"_Why? You were avoiding me and now this?! Why are you breaking up with me?" a teary eyed Ryoma asked._

"_Because." Fuji paused; he knew this will hurt Ryoma but he has to do it, no matter how much his heart disagreed to his decision. "Because I don't love you anymore. That's why." He said coolly._

_That does it. With that Ryoma ran away and Fuji lost his chance. And Fuji was lost in the dark. FOREVER._

"Syusuke!" he heard a voice called his name. It was Tezuka. His old friend and former teammate in Seigaku Tennis Club.

"Ye-Yes?" Fuji asked. Obviously, he was caught rambling by Tezuka. He felt ashamed.

"You've been spacing out. Are you all right?" Tezuka asked with concerned voice.

"Hai. I'm fine, Tezuka." Was all Fuji said.

Tezuka took a glance at the picture Fuji was holding, and smiled a bit. He knows his friend damn well. Fuji is obviously **NOT **all right.

"You're thinking about him again, aren't you?" Tezuka then asked.

Fuji just smiled and put his attention again on the photograph.

After five minutes of silence, Fuji asked, "Are we there yet?"

Tezuka turned to Fuji and said, "We almost are."

Fuji let out a deep sigh. He and Tezuka are already 21 years old and they both study in the same college university. Today, they are going back again to the place where strong bond among the tennis club regulars and members formed. That place is no other than Seishun Gakuen Jr. High the place that held so many memories in his heart. Fuji felt like he's being pulled back in the past. So many images are flashing in his mind as they are getting nearer and nearer to their former school. Once again, he let out a deep sigh, and this caught Tezuka's attention.

"Fuji…" Tezuka began.

"Hhm?" Fuji looked at Tezuka. His eyes are now focused on Tezuka's face which is now clouded with slight confusion.

"I-I still don't understand why you did that to **HIM**." Tezuka said.

Fuji smiled sadly then said, "I just thought it was needed to be done." Fuji stopped then heaved a sigh, for the third time. "How long has it been?" Fuji suddenly asked and looked away. Even though he already knew the answer for that, in his heart, he wanted to believe that it was just a nightmare. He still felt the guilt and regrets for doing that to Ryoma. He did some things that are horrible to him, to the extent that he had to use Tezuka just to break his relationship with Ryoma, even though he didn't want to. Obviously, it still hurts him to reminisce those times he shared with his precious golden eyed boy. The exact boy who brought out the best in him not just in tennis but also in many terms of life. To Fuji, Ryoma was his life.

Fuji caught Tezuka throw a glance at him and he paused before answering.

"_**But why are you still hurting, Syusuke? It was your decision in the first place anyway. You broke up with him and gave the false reason! That you didn't love him anymore! You lost your chance already!" **_a part of his mind told him.

Fuji swallowed the painful lump in his throat. _"Because I still love him! That's why! I still love him that's why until now, I'm hurting. Many years have passed but I still love him, longing for him and secretly hoping that there's still second chance for us. Our first encounter, first date, first kiss, first lovemaking and Ryoma himself are difficult to forget. His love is just too difficult to forget!" _He wanted to shout.

"Fuji…" He heard Tezuka speak. "We're 21 years old now. You've been together for 2 years right? You were 14 when you started dating Echizen, so it's been 5 years since you broke up with him. Don't tell me you forgot all about that?" Tezuka asked him.

"Of course I do remember them" He said and looked straight in Tezuka's eyes. "I remember everything about him, about us. Perfectly and completely."

Tezuka looked straight to Fuji's eyes too, then said, "Then why do you keep hurting yourself like this? Why do you keep letting yourself be in the dark? I know you still love him." There was a hint of challenge in Tezuka's voice. Fuji, on the other hand, was trying to find the right words to answer Tezuka.

Tezuka stared at the lost Fuji. He couldn't blame Fuji for falling in love with Ryoma. Ryoma may be cocky sometimes but the golden eyed boy was really gentle, fragile and soft inside. As the matter of fact, he himself also had an interest with Ryoma before. He just noticed that Fuji was also interested with the little kitten, so he just backed off and let Fuji have the move because he didn't want to have a fight with Fuji and to gamble his good friendship with Fuji just because they both had an interest to Ryoma. When Fuji and Ryoma were together already, he was happy for them, but one day, he and Fuji had a private talk, and an unwilling Fuji asked a confused Tezuka to help him to keep Ryoma away from him. Sure, Tezuka's brain was all messed up with confusion that time, so Fuji explained it to him. Tezuka hesitated at first, but when Fuji begged him, he agreed to it. It was all just planned but he knew they had hurt Ryoma, and until now, he was just as guilty as Fuji for what they had done before.

Fuji was about to open his mouth to speak when the bus they're riding **(they decided not to bring their car anymore because they felt like taking a bus. Just like old times)** suddenly stopped right in front of the familiar place where they really wanted to see and visit.

"Seishun Gakuen…" Both Fuji and Tezuka uttered before they got off the bus.

They stared at the front gate of the school for few minutes and they observed that it has not changed after quite some time. They looked at each other and decided to enter the school gate.

As he took his first step to enter the school, Fuji closed his eyes as memories that happened in that same place flashed in his mind. And most of those memories contained flashbacks that happened before during his stay here in Seishun Gakuen and spent time with his former tennis club regular teammates… and a young and beautiful golden eyed boy who was still the owner of his broken and longing heart.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	2. Childhood Memories

I know it is very late, but at least, I get to make an update. Just for the record, I am determined to finish both of my Prince of Tennis stories, and I am not abandoning them. I am not promising that my lousy updating habit will change though.

*****I was formerly known as IDaddicted, but I changed my pen name to Mindshrewed.

I'd like to thank those who read and reviewed.

Lastly, I might put some of my original characters in this story when they will be needed.

Anyway, here's the second chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince of Tennis.

**Warnings:** Major characters being OOCs. Though not brutally written, I included a death of a puppy. For those who are animal lovers, don't flame me, okay? I felt bad killing a puppy in the story and even had second thought of it.

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**I Love You, Now and Forever**

**Chapter Two**

_**By Mindshrewed**_

**Westchester, New York**

"Game and match won by Ryoma."

The loud calling of a familiar voice made the golden eyed prodigy snap from his reverie. Ryoma blinked twice. The game was over? He didn't notice at all, or maybe it was just that he was not paying attention. Well, he still won the match anyway, but he knew he, though unintentionally, had offended his opponent. You see, --

"Shounen, are you all right?" Without Ryoma noticing, his father, the umpire of the said game, had visible worry etched all over his slightly wrinkled face. "You've been spacing out the entire match." Nanjiroh stated as he climbed down the umpire chair and walked towards his son.

"Yeah, Ryo. Most of your matches, you stare into complete nothingness. What's wrong?" A feminine voice whined. When the girl didn't get an answer from the boy, she sighed and pouted. "You were spacing out during our match, yet you still managed to beat me. I'm actually offended here because I know you weren't taking me seriously."

Despite the heavy emotion in Ryoma's chest, he smiled. The voice belonged to his cousin from mother side, Denise Tyler. Among all his cousins, Denise was the one closest to his heart. He held special affection for the girl who was a year younger than he was. Having many similarities, they got along very well and spent most of their time together when Ryoma was in the United States and when there were family reunions. This made some of Ryoma's cousins feel jealous, saying that their Ryoma-kun or Ryoma-nichan didn't like them.

Ryoma remembered one time when he and Denise got into trouble with their parents. Actually, it was only Denise's fault, but Ryoma didn't want to leave his cousin, who that time was really scared, hanging, so he took the blame for Denise.

**Flashback**

"_Ryo, what am I going to do? If Stella finds out, she'll freak out." A teary-eyed pretty little girl cried as she clung to the arms of his seven year old cousin Ryoma. The girl named "Stella" was their playmate and their neighbor. Ryoma sighed and patted Denise's head._

_What happened was that Stella agreed to Denise's request to borrow Cuddle, the former's puppy. Ryoma couldn't blame his cousin because she was an animal lover, and because the puppy was cute. After jumping up and down out of joy, Denise took the cutie to the Tyler's home and pampered it with good stuff. She even asked one of their maids to buy a very expensive dog food at the mall. _

_But as the saying went, "Too much of anything is dangerous." Denise's too much babying of the puppy made the poor creature choke. When it made few bad coughing sounds, she panicked and lightly tapped the back of the puppy several times but still no avail. Crying, Denise ran to call her dear cousin's name._

"_Ryo, help me please. Stella will surely get mad at me if she finds out I accidentally killed Cuddle. My parents might ground me for this." Once again, poor Denise wailed and helplessly tugged Ryoma's shirt. The latter sighed for the second time, "No use crying over spilled milk, Nise." Ryoma looked at the pup, emotionless and well, not breathing, lying at the tiled floor._

"_But," Denise protested but was cut off._

"_Don't worry about it. I got everything covered, trust me. Okay?" Trying to calm his cousin, Ryoma put his hands on Denise's shoulders. The girl could only nod; she had no idea how Ryoma would save her from this mess she had gotten into. Honestly, she felt bad involving him in this one, but knowing the boy, he would always save her life even if it meant trading his. That's how tight they were even at such young age._

_And so afternoon came. When Stella came to their door step to fetch her pet, Denise was the one to break the news and to show the dead pup to the girl with braces. As expected, their neighbor was ridiculously hysterical. She almost tried to hurt Denise, had it not been for Ryoma who rushed over the scene to protect his cousin. Stella fled away from them, yelling that she would tell her parents about it._

_Few minutes later, an enraged Stella with her parents came back. Eric, Stella's dad, tried to do damage control by gripping one of her daughter's arms to avoid cat fight inside the Tyler's household. Soon, Denise's parents, Eliza and Anthony Tyler, arrived which added a more dramatic touch to what was happening. They looked like they were acting out a scene from a family feud themed movie._

"_Denise, dear, what's happening here?" Visibly confused, Eliza asked her daughter. Denise was about to speak when she was cut by Stella's scream._

"_That little bitch of your daughter killed my Cuddle. She choked it!" Ignoring her mother's attempt to stop her from cursing, Stella screamed._

_Eliza was surprised while the two fathers had only shook their heads. When suddenly, Ryoma spoke._

"_Denise didn't choke your dog. I did." Ryoma told them. This earned him disapproving looks from the elders. Stella stopped crying, "Huh?" And Denise looked at her cousin and without a sound, muttered "What?"_

_Ryoma ignored her as he continued, "I'm sorry Stella, your puppy was just so cute, and I couldn't resist giving him everything. I didn't know it was already full; it couldn't possibly tell me right?" When he saw Stella's face softened up a bit, he thought, 'I seemed to have acted well'_

_Blame the folly of children and their playmate's crush on him. Ryoma knew taking advantage of that was a bad idea, but he wanted to Denise right? This was the only way, use his charm on Stella._

"_Oh… As long as you didn't do it on purpose, Ryo. It's okay." Smiling, Stella stated and looked at her mom. "Mom, I think Ryoma didn't mean to kill my Cuddle. Right, Ryo?" She asked Ryoma._

"_Yes." Ryoma answered with a nod. Denise couldn't believe what she was seeing. Stella had forgiven her cousin so easily! _

"_If it's any consolation, I would tell my parents to buy you a new dog. It was MY fault anyway." Ryoma insisted. Sniffing, Stella smiled and batted her eyelashes, "Well, if you insist. I guess it's fine."_

_Watching her Stella's acts, Denise rolled her eyes. "What a little flirt!" She thought disgustingly. So Ryoma was the trump card to calm this girl down. Goodness!_

_Eliza spoke and took her nephew into her arms, "All right, I think it's settled then. Ryoma, sweetie, don't do this again okay?" Ryoma nodded. Eliza stood up shook hands with the other family. "I'm really sorry for the inconvenience Trisha. I swear it won't happen again." _

_Stella's mother smiled and shook her head, "It turned out all right in the end anyway." She stated as she eyed the three kids talking like nothing happened. The three elders also looked at the three innocent children and laughed. A friendly atmosphere surrounded them._

**End of Flashback**

"Ryoma!" Came a yell that brought the teen back to reality. "Huh?" Ryoma asked stupidly.

"See. You've spaced out again, Ryo. Seriously, what's wrong with you?" Denise, who was already in front him, asked. He felt her hand on his right shoulder.

"Nothing, Nise, Dad. I must have just been tired, but I'm fine." Ryoma forced a smile and hold his cousin's hand settled on his shoulder firmly, as if it was his source of strength.

The sixteen year old youth stared at him. She knew this guy better than anyone else did. And she sensed that something was definitely wrong with Ryoma. "Okay. We should go inside, so you could rest for a while." She lead the way, still her hand locked with Ryoma's. They were greeted by Rinko's gentle face as they entered the Echizen's mansion.

'He'll tell me when he wanted me to know. There's no point in forcing him.' Denise mused to herself.

Nanjiroh never tried to butt into what the two were talking about. He perceived that Ryoma had problems. He just watched the two teenagers because he himself knew that Ryoma had always confided first with his cousin before with his parents. It was slightly hurtful; he was Ryoma's father after all. But if Ryoma was more comfortable telling Denise his personal matters, he could live with it.

What worried Nanjiroh was that he was responsible for his son's sudden attitude change. He tried to erase what he had done in his memory, but since then, he never slept peacefully. It was like an apparition and a rendezvous morphed together.

'I know you still hadn't forgotten about him, son." His voice remorseful, the old man whispered. 'And what a foolish dad I had been for not considering how you felt.'

**End of Chapter Two**

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This chapter mainly focused on the relationship of Ryoma and Denise, my original character. As you may have already known, Denise is Ryoma's first degree cousin from his mother side, so Denise will never be the third party between our main characters.

I'm giving quite a twist to Ryoma's mother's identity. I changed her surname to "Tyler". I believe Rinko was an American, right? Nanjiroh met her in the United States after all. So this meant Rinko and Denise's dad, Anthony are siblings. Just a clarification.

Yes, Nanjiroh had something to do regarding why Ryoma and Fuji were and are still miserable. How was he involved? I'm not telling you. So you would have to read the next chapters

One reader reviewed that he wanted some details about Fuji and Ryoma's past. I will do just that, so no need to worry about it.

I updated this story first because I found it quite easier to put some details on how Ryoma and Fuji went their separate ways than with Believe Me When I Say It's Real. But I got to say that I received more reviews with BMWISIR. Still, I am always grateful with the readers' reviews.

I am open to suggestions regarding this story, so feel free to give me some. I think that's just about it. See you next chapter!


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